1. Related Field
The present invention relates to the field of epipolar geometry, the intrinsic geometry between two views, or images, encapsulated by the fundamental matrix. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for solving position and orientation from correlated point features in images using an optimized fundamental matrix from which rotation and translation are simultaneously calculated and iterated.
The present invention is related to the fields of object guidance and navigation, and more particularly, to systems and techniques for guiding and providing navigation to an object using image data.
The present invention relates to a method for determining position and orientation enabling navigation of an object using image data from at least a first and a second 2D image from at least one camera mounted on said object.
The present invention further relates to an apparatus for determining position and orientation enabling navigation of an object using image data from at least a first and a second 2D image from at least one camera mounted on said object, wherein said apparatus comprising a memory and a processor.
2. Description of Related Art
There exist various examples of methods and apparatus for navigation. Today, land-, sea or air based navigational data information of position and orientation is usually provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth when and where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. GPS, however, has several restrictions and vulnerabilities due to unintentional or deliberate interference with GPS signals. Unintentional interference is, for example, ionosphere interference and radio frequency interference stemming from television broadcasts, VHF signals, cell phones, and two-way pagers. GPS are also susceptible to jamming and multipath and integrity problems. Further, GPS is restricted to an unobstructed line of sight to the GPS satellites and are thereby lacking the ability to reliably and correctly provide navigational data information of position and orientation indoors and in large urban cities or in any other location where the line of sight is obstructed.
Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) is also widely used for navigation and guidance. An INS uses the inertial properties of an objects sensors, for example sensors onboard a vehicle or attached to a person, to determine an object's position and velocity. This is accomplished by processing data obtained from specific force and angular velocity measurements. These navigational systems use accelerometers and gyroscopes to obtain navigational data information. A weakness of using INS, however, is that they can drift over time, which may result in added errors to position estimates. Further, INS is restricted to using gyroscopes and accelerometers which are both expensive and heavy equipments.
The advancements in computer vision and epipolar geometry have increased interest in image based navigation techniques and navigation systems as an alternative or adjunct to GPS and INS. However, these present types of image based navigation techniques and navigation systems are slow and inaccurate in comparison to GPS and INS and are thus not suitable as a navigation technique or system. There is thus a need for an improved image based navigation method and apparatus suitable as a navigation system and removing the above mentioned disadvantages. Accordingly, there remains a need for a faster image based navigation method and apparatus which provides the same or better accuracy than GPS or INS.